Fiction Rated: T - English –general/Romance – a Zutara fic and Sokkaxoc

Summary – Katara healed herself from the run-in with Zuko when she tried to talk to Iroh. Sokka and Aang come in contact with an unexpected and mysterious… enemy? Friend? Well you'll just have to find out!

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Chapter 8 Getting to know you…

Some time had passed after she had healed herself. Zuko, the doctor, and the soldier had all left awhile after she healed to give her some non-burnt to a crisp clothes. She had been sleeping for the past twenty minutes. The tired old general walked through the dimly lit room and faced the young girl. A grin slowly spread over his face as the water bender awoke to the dim suppertime glow.

"Ah… Good afternoon! Sorry if I woke you. I brought you some dinner and my favorite Ginseng tea!" Katara fluttered her eyes open and slowly lifted her head. She was tired from everything. Today just wasn't her day.

"Ah No! Don't pester yourself! Lay back and rest! I mean it, you need it. Sorry once again, my nephew is a very rough boy. Don't mind him. There was one thing I wanted to ask you before, but you had gotten yourself in this predicament." Katara looked at the man questioningly.

"Well, I wanted to know why you got into a fight. Zuko would not tell me and naturally I am a curious man. Do you remember?"

Katara shook her head "Well I wanted to talk to you, so the guard got Zuko down to my cell so I could ask him, and he was in the middle of training and…"

"Aha! Say no more. I know how Zuko gets when he's training. He gets quite worked up in it."

"What's the point?"

"He wants to be competent enough to capture the avatar."

"Why does he need to capture the Aang anyway? He's taking away the last hope of the world!"

"Well, his reasons are different than you believe. Find out for yourself."

"Why what happened?"

"Well that's something you must find out for yourself."

"Oh." There was a long pause. "Well where are we headed anyway?"

"We are heading to Hangul Island. It is about 2 days from here. If a storm comes our way we might have to deal with another day to recuperate but I doubt that will happen. How are you feeling? You look a lot better than yesterday."

"I healed myself, that could be why."

"You're a healer! I admired healer's from when I was a child! I always wished I could but, well, since I'm a firebender I naturally can't." He chuckled.

"Yea. Usually I heal and then I'm fine. This time has got me drained. I guess since I never really did a full body healing on myself."

"Don't fret my dear! We will get to the island soon enough and we will get you some more medicine and rest." He got up and set down a plate of food. There was steamed fish and vegetables with, of course, ginseng tea. "Here is your food. I'll come back in a little while to get the tray when your finished, or I might just send a crew member or something. If you need anything just call me!" Iroh smiled at the young girl and silently walked out. Katar looked up at the ceiling and smiled. A new idea popped into her head. In 2 days time, I will make my escape. Wait for me Aang and Sokka… I'm coming… Katara let her pain overtake her and she drifted off to another quick slumber…

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The figure quietly came up behind them. Her eyes looked at them with such determination. She wore a jade green mask that covered her forehead, nose and the right side of her face. It made her hazel eyes glow with such intensity. She wore a light green, slightly baggy shirt that ended slightly passed her elbows. A black sash was tied around her waist. Her pants were the same color as her shirt and bagged down at her ankles. She wore dark green slippers with a red trim and looked like Chinese slippers. Her lips were a darker shade of red and it went well with her long black hair. Her hair was put up into a pony tail and was braided all the way down to her waist. She had a slender figure and was a little shorter than Sokka.

She silently stood close to Sokka's back and whispered "You think you're so tough huh? Bring it on!" She grabbed the cuff of his neck and pulled him back till he sat square on his butt. "You too Avatar. Don't you believe me? Don't you? Don't you?! You don't know what your doing do you."

"Who are you?" Sokka asked looking up at her, his hands trying to keep himself up.

"Your savior"

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As she woke up from another long nap she looked around the room and realized she was not alone. Warm hands lifted her up off the bed and Katara kept her eyes closed. She had no sense of where she was being taken but she realized they must have taken many turns. Her nose was filled with the smell of freshly cooked food.

Katara was placed onto a chair and was positioned upright. She felt the cold hard chair beneath her and heard voices. She recognized both instantly and listened as hard as she could. The warm hand was still at her side keeping her sitting up.

"You wanted her, I brought her…" said the all too familiar prince

"You could have woken her up before you brought her down here sleeping!" said an old tired voice.

"Did you want to talk to her or not? Like I said I'd rather do it myself but if you insist on doing it then hurry up. I don't have all day!"

Katara's heart skipped a beat. What were they up to? That Iroh and Zuko better not do a thing to me! Okay, well if Iroh is going to talk to me I'm not that worried, but that fire bender! That no good temperamental jerk is not going anywhere near me!

Katara was shaken slightly by the tired old general. She opened her eyes and saw his smiling face.

"Good afternoon once again! Sorry to have you woken up like this. My nephew is a handful! He needs to be more sociable. I tell him this all the time but he never listens! He needs to loosen up and go out more." She raised her eyebrows and laughed quietly. Iroh walked around the small table to the other side and sat down. Katara looked around and then back at the old man.

"Why did you bring me here?" Katara asked already knowing the answer.

"I wanted to talk to you. He could've talked to you instead but I decided I'd like to question you personally. Besides, he is getting a little nervous when going near you, considering what happened."

"Oh, well what did you want to talk to me about?"

"I just wanted to see what you're thinking. We should have some conversations! Now that you're getting better at an increasing rate, I thought you might be bored being cooped up in that plain room. Maybe you could join me for lunch! We are having steamed fish with some jasmine tea! I love tea."

"I would love some too. And thank you very much for inviting me. It was very boring in there."

"You are most certainly welcome! What are some of your interests? I remember you saying how you're a water bender. I know you don't remember but we had a nice conversation a few days ago about ourselves. I know much about you, but I doubt you remember what I told you about myself. Ask away, I'm not shy!" Iroh beamed at her.

"Well, I know your name so… How are you related to Zuko? I mean, I know you're his uncle but are you related by marriage, are you brothers with his father or mother or what?"

Iroh stroked his chin and sat back into his chair. "I am Zuko's father's brother related by blood. Sadly, I'm not too proud of that. My brother and I are two very different people and we do not get along very well."

"What is the fire lord like?" Iroh paused and held his head with one hand. He shook his head simply and then looked Katara in the eye.

"My brother is not the likeable type. Although for some reason Zuko admires him greatly, even after what my brother did to him. He is not very understanding and wasn't there for his children at all."

"What did the fire lord do to Zuko that was so terrible?" Katara questioned trying not to sound to interested. Iroh sighed.

"Like I said before, he should be the one to tell you. I'm sure Prince Zuko would not like me telling his story to prisoners anyway. Not that I think of you as a prisoner! You are definitely my guest because your presence is most pleasing!" Iroh smiled (he really is filled with smiles! )) Katara smiled slightly but quickly became curious once more.

"How did Zuko get his scar?" Iroh looked her right in the eye. She knew what he was trying to say. No! What father would do that?

"No. It can't be! No father is that cruel, right?"

"It is true. It is his father who banished him. It was his father who gave him that scar, a sign of his so called 'weakness' which was to help his people and stop the needless slaughter."

"But if Zuko was trying to help his people why would he be punished?"

"That sweetheart is the question. That is what you must find out for yourself. I have already said too much." Katara looked down either from the shock or utter dismay.

"Anyway, where did your ship come from? I always wondered. You didn't have one at the northern air temple, and the last I saw was that you two were floating on a raft when we left."

"Well that's a promising story! Okay, it all started about two days after the defeat of the fire navy fleet. Royalty as I am, I could get whatever I wanted! I wasn't banished after all! So, I sent a messenger to go get me a new boat and a few men. Another 5 days later, this new boat showed up! Ah, I am lucky that it was my aunt who got the message instead of my brother or niece or it would've been a tragedy!"

"Wait a second… did you say niece? Who is she? Zuko has a sister?!"

"Yes indeed! Her name is Azula! Quite a handful she is! She is much more like her father than her mother, unlike Zuko. She is a very determined girl and always gets what she wants. She tormented Zuko all through their childhood days. It was really quite entertaining, although I did not spend much time with them. I was off fighting in my father's tiresome war. But don't worry! I'm sure it will all end soon, either from your friend the avatar or my brother and the comet! But, we should not be thinking about such gruesome thoughts this time of day! You must be bored, talking to me like this!"

"No! No! It really is quite interesting. Please go on."

"Sorry but I think it is getting quite late! It is about time for me to have my late night snack. Would you like to go outside before you must leave?"

"Okay, that would be lovely. Just out of curiosity, where am I leaving to?"

Iroh frowned, "I am very sorry dear but my nephew thinks you should go back to your original cell. You are much better from being healed and your strength is returning. It is just a temporary situation. I am trying to get you a room of your very own, although it is not as exquisite as you might think. It is a little like the soldier's rooms. It still is better than that cell you were staying in!" Iroh smiled and signaled for the cook to take the rest of their dishes away from the table.

"Thank you very much Iroh! I never thought a fire bender would be so kind." Katara looked at Iroh's questioning face and quickly thought of how unkind her words were. "…to a prisoner of course!" Katara blushed and looked away.

"I know, I know. It's quite all right. Fire benders do tend to have a bad reputation. Do not get me wrong! There are many people whose hunger for domination clouds their minds but some are quite different than what they seem. Get to know some and you'll see…" Iroh then stood up and brushed his mouth with a napkin.

The old man walked with Katara out of the room and led her to the deck. Katara looked around and was grateful to see her calm, soothing element. It was such a change from the bland white room she stayed in for almost two days. She looked back at the man once she reached the ledge and pleaded with her eyes.

"May I?"

"Go ahead!" And with that, Katara smiled and once again let her element soothe her as she worked her magic.

In the background, glowing eyes watched them closely, listening to every word they said...

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Oh my god! Sorry for not updating! I've been working on another story that I absolutely LOVE but I didn't post it yet. The other story is way more interesting and is funny. It's set in present time so I like it. Please review! Not that I deserve it since I didn't update… but review anyway!

M-ie